We Are
by Stalker-San-Alchemist
Summary: Ed felt a lot more confident of the things he did ever since his brother’s body had been restored. After the ordeal with the other side of the gate, and his and his brother’s journey back, he had never wanted anything more than to just relax.
1. Chapter 1

Edward and Alphonse were riding a train from Liore to Central. Ed had just gotten done with another inspection assigned by the General, and so he and his brother were on their way back to turn in the report and receive, yet again, ANOTHER so-called mission. Ed was getting rather annoyed with these 'missions' General Mustang was sending him on lately; he wanted to do some _actual work_. Instead, he's doing…small, little deeds that any regular police officer could pull off. That pissed him off the most! When he thought he'd be challenged, he never thought it would be with his patience!

"I mean it, Al; I'm getting tired of this!" Ed exclaimed, furious.

"Brother, maybe you should calm down and…" Al began.

"No way! There's no way I'm letting that stubborn-ass General get away with this!"

Al sighed. "But maybe…"

"But nothing, Al. I'm not going to put up with this crap much longer."

"Brother, I think you're overreacting."

"OVERREACTING!?! What the hell do you mean by that Al!?"

"Maybe you have to work your way up to the bigger missions, that's all."

"No way, I've never had to do small stuff like this before; and if you consider some of the other missions small I think you're a bit off there, Alphonse."

"Well maybe there's not much to do around here; it does seem rather peaceful lately."

"Then why doesn't he just give me the time off?" Ed mumbled.

After that, they rode in silence, as they watched the scenes around them whoosh by in a blur.

_Ed felt a lot more confident of the things he did ever since his brother's body had been restored. After the ordeal with the other side of the gate, and his and his brother's journey back, he had never wanted anything more than to just relax. But being the Edward everybody knew, he wouldn't be able to. Yeah, he'd be happy to just sit back and live in his hometown with his brother like old times; but that wasn't him anymore. He'd eventually get impatient and restless. So he decided to live it out in Central and continue as a State Alchemist, working under General Roy Mustang once more. The only thing that left him uncomfortable with things was that Alphonse demanded to be a State Alchemist along-side his brother. Edward protested and protested, but that didn't stop his brother's stubborn-ness. It ran in the blood, Ed assumed. Ed eventually backed down and allowed him to enlist, but only if he worked under himself. That promoted Edward to Colonel and Alphonse to Major. And so, the Elric brothers continued going on missions together, not allowing anything to separate them again._

Alphonse looked over at his brother and noticed he had nodded off.

"_Brother, you're so lazy sometimes."_ Al thought to himself, laughing silently.

A tap came to Alphonse's shoulder; he looked over and didn't recognize the military soldier.

"FullMetal and Soul Binding, am I correct?" The soldier asked.

Al nodded. "Yeah, that's us."

The soldier reached into his bag and pulled out a couple papers, inspected them, and handed them to Alphonse.

"I was told to deliver these to you, sir."

"Any idea what they are?" Al asked as he took the papers from the soldier.

"All I know is that it's a message from a higher-ranking officer than FullMetal."

"I see, that'll be all I guess."

"Sir." The soldier saluted and walked off.

Al opened the envelope addressed to himself and read it over:

_"Soul Binding Alchemist,_

_You are one of the few chosen for a new mission._

_This mission will be concealed until your arrival._

_General Mustang will give you more information _

_When you report in." _

_-Fuhrer King Roland_

Al stared at it for a couple moments, confused at first. The Fuhrer rarely ever needed State Alchemists of his rank to go on an important mission. He wondered if his brother had gotten a similar letter. He nearly opened it, but he then remembered that he would be breaking one of the codes. He wasn't to open any letter that wasn't addressed to him; and not only that, Ed would _kill_ him if he found out he had peeped at one of his letters. So Al simply set the letter down beside him and woke his slumbering superior.

"Huh-wha?" Ed mumbled as he awoke.

"Brother, you've got a letter." Al said, handing him the envelope.

Ed took it and opened it; and read it of course.

He yawned once he had finished reading it and folded it back up.

"What a waste…"

"What was it about, brother?"

Ed noticed Al was holding an envelope addressed to his self as well.

"What was _yours_ about?"

"Eh…hey I asked you first!"

"Don't talk that way to your superior officer, Alphonse Elric." Ed teased.

"But you…!! Oye. Sorry…sir."

"That's what I thought. Now answer my question."

"Basically that I'm supposed to go on a new mission—but it didn't give much about it."

"Hm. And who sent it?" Ed asked, curious. Normally HE would be the one giving Alphonse missions.

"The new Fuhrer; Fuhrer King Roland."

"Must be big…" Ed commented, scratching his chin.

"Now what was yours about?"

"Basically the same thing…but well, with MY military name."

"Well duh."

Ed poked Al's cheek. "Ah, ah, ah. Watch your tongue."

Al glared at his brother. "You're enjoying this aren't you?"

Ed grinned, proud. "Very much so, yes."

"Did you plot to be my superior just because you get to boss me around?"

"No, that's just a bonus!" Ed exclaimed, happily.

"Baka…"

Edward karate chopped his brother on the head—with his **left** hand. "Watch it."

The train whistle blew, meaning they had arrived in Central. Ed and Al gathered their things and dismounted the train. They had decided to drop off their things first, and then report in to the General. So Ed and Al walked to their apartment complex and up to their apartment; they had then set their suitcases in their rooms and left immediately—against Edward's protests of course. When they had finally arrived at Central Headquarters, they were immediately directed to General Mustang's office. Al knocked on the door and they were admitted inside.

"FullMetal, Soul Binding." Mustang had greeted.

"General." They greeted together—although Ed did in a grumpy way.

"The report?"

Ed handed it to General Mustang and stepped back beside his brother.

Mustang looked it over for a moment. "Good. I'll evaluate this more later, for now…You received those letters, didn't you?"

They nodded.

Mustang rose and stood in front of them.

"Well then we should get going, shouldn't we?"

"Where are we going exactly?" Ed asked.

Mustang smiled. "You'll see."


	2. Chapter 2

The General had taken them to a new room across the building. Ed had recognized it; it was where they questioned him when he took the State Alchemist exam. _"I wonder what we have to do here..? Probably the mission assignment…I wonder what it is…"_ Ed thought to himself. It was mostly dark in the room, giving that the windows were covered and only one light was on above them. Edward noted that there were only a few people in this room other than the General, his brother and himself. Moments after silent observations, they saw a door ahead of them open. Through it, the new Fuhrer emerged. He walked in sophisticatedly and stood behind his desk, studying the soldiers for a moment.

"Gentlemen." Fuhrer Roland greeted.

Everyone saluted and said, "Sir."

"You only know some of why I called you here, which is what I shall explain individually momentarily."

General Mustang stepped forward. "Sir, not that I'm questioning your motives, but what exactly will you gain from separating us into groups?"

Roland smiled. "I suspected you would say that, General. Simple, your skills are needed in different areas—you will be able to meet up of course, but when the time is needed, only."

The General saluted and stepped back.

This was what Edward feared would come; a mission where he would get separated from his brother. He couldn't let that happen, no matter what.

Edward stepped forward. "This is insane! You know—and we all do—that we're better off working together; can't we work our way to each situation at a time?!"

General Mustang stepped forward. "Excuse him Sir," He began, glaring at Ed. "He acts by his emotions more than logic."

"And I only do that because it's the logical way to go! We can't just separate and have everybody killed off on their own. We're stronger as a team, and that's what the freaking military is supposed to be anyway."

"Watch your mouth, FullMetal." Mustang snapped.

"I'm only saying what's true!"

Then, what came next surprised everyone.

The Fuhrer was _laughing_.

Everyone stared at him in shock.

"FullMetal has a good point, I must admit." The Fuhrer said once he finished laughing.

Al stepped forward next. "No, I disagree."

Ed turned towards his younger brother.

"I think you were right from the start. Bro—I mean Colonel FullMetal is just trying to keep things the way they were; with me."

"Is that true, FullMetal?"

"Partially, yes; but that's not my full intent." Ed admitted.

"Then why don't you at least _try_ with the Fuhrer's plan, Colonel?" Al shot.

"Because we shouldn't always go with our first actions—you should know that by now, Alphonse."

Al paused; he knew when his brother used that tone, he was completely serious.

A moment of silence passed, as everyone waited for what was to come next.

"FullMetal, you and Soul Binding are brothers, are you not?" Fuhrer Roland asked.

"Yes sir."

"I see where you're coming from; you see I have a younger brother myself. But what we older brothers have to do besides look out and protect our younger brothers is allow them to make their own mistakes. I'm afraid all I can do about this mission, is to allow small groups of maximum 2. I will assign the groups and if you are not alright with your partner, then you may go alone. Understand?"

"Yes…_sir_." Ed mumbled as he, and the other two, stepped back in the line of people.

And so the Fuhrer assigned the groups moments after thinking. Unfortunately, Ed wasn't paired with his brother—he was paired with someone he didn't even know! So he decided to go alone. On the plus side, Alphonse did have someone to look after him; Al was paired up with General Mustang. Edward knew then that Al should be fine, but he wasn't just going to leave it at that. He, like any brother, was going to follow and make sure Al was alright himself; continuing his work along the way of course.

For the next few weeks, Edward followed his brother across the country. On his own time, he also discovered much what he needed for the mission. His part of the mission was to study on other country's ways of Alchemy. He bought several books from stores and read a lot in libraries, taking notes on the littlest details. He often lost track of time and lost the trail of his brother, which angered him greatly. But he guessed where Al would need to go for his head of the mission and found him there ironically.

Edward was in the library once more, hidden behind a mountain of books as usual.

He was exhausted from all of the reading he had done lately.

He had never DREAMED of this much reading—not to mention writing!

But he had to do what he had to do.

After hours of research, without his knowledge, he had fallen asleep.

The only reason he found out he fell asleep, was because General Mustang was the one to awake him.

"FullMetal..FULLMETAL." Mustang repeated.

Ed continued to slumber, oblivious to his superior.

Mustang grunted and tipped over Edward's chair.

Ed fell over and when he hit the ground, he immediately awoke.

"WHATHECKISGOINONITHOUGHTIWASWHOA—" He began to rant as he woke shocked.

Al covered his mouth. "Shh!! Brother, we're in a library!"

Ed refocused his vision and realized Mustang and Al were kneeling in front of him.

"Oh…"

"You fell asleep." Al said, slightly giggling.

"You try reading hours on end..."

The Elric brothers exchanged smiles, glad to be reunited.

Al helped Ed up and they all sat at the table, talking amongst each other.

"So, how's your end of the mission pulling up?" Ed asked.

"Pretty well, I guess. We've gathered a lot of information." Al answered cheerfully.

"I'm glad; because if you didn't I'd have to kick your ass." Ed teased.

They continued chatting about their recent discoveries and what they hoped to achieve. After nearly an hour, they had gone out for a bite to eat. When they had returned, they continued their research—sitting at the same table of course. Once they had gotten comfortable, Edward sensed something wrong. He wasn't sure what it was, but he could tell something big was about to happen—and soon!

Ed sat down his book and looked around the library.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Al asked, noticing Ed's strange behavior.

"Something's…wrong here."

"Like what?" Mustang asked.

"Dunno…"

"Then how can you—" Al began.

Al was interrupted by a loud explosion.

Ed shot up and ran a few steps toward it, but then stopped and observed—waiting for the smoke to clear.

Ed's eyes widened in shock when the smoke did eventually clear.

"But I thought…" Ed said, not noticing he spoke.

"What, FullMetal?"

"She was…I…"

"Brother?"

Ed pointed up where the explosion came from and they noticed two figures standing there.

"…But what is--?" Al began.

"Focus. I think I get what FullMetal's surprised at." Mustang ordered.

Al rubbed his eyes and focused his vision on the figures.

One was a woman--that was for sure.

The other one Alphonse wasn't certain on.

He concentrated a bit harder and then came to the same shock his brother did.

"They were.." Al stuttered.

"I know…" Ed replied

"But how?" Mustang asked.

The smoke fully cleared and the two figures stepped forward.

"Hey there, pipsqueak." Envy greeted.

"Did you miss us?" Sloth asked, grinning.

"No…freaking…way!"


	3. Chapter 3

"How the hell are you guys still alive!?!" Ed shouted.

"_Alive_. That's a funny way to put it; isn't that right, Sloth?" Envy replied

"My boy, we were never truly _alive_. But I see what you're getting at."

Edward gritted is teeth, he had killed Sloth once…and knew Envy was sacrificed when they created the gate nearly a year ago. But this didn't make any sense; none whatsoever.

"Don't you get it, Elric? We were revived—again!" Envy exclaimed.

"But why would anyone want to revive you two…again?!"

"Why? Hm. Well, the question is—why not?"

"Because you're mistakes! You destroy everything and everyone in your path just for the fun of it!"

"That's exactly why we were revived." Sloth added.

"Who? Who revived you?"

"Who, what, where, when, why? Is this 20 questions or are we going to get to business?" Envy taunted.

Edward clenched his fists, and Al put his hand on Ed's left shoulder.

"We can defeat Envy any day."

"But what about your thing with—_her._"

"We'll deal with that when we have to…" Al sighed and removed his hand from his brother's shoulder.

Ed nodded, agreeing—and yet not.

"So, the battle begins?" Mustang asked.

"Hell yeah!" Ed exclaimed, and they all got into a fighting position.

The homunculi leaped from the second level to the first, taking them up for their challenge.

And so the battle began. Edward was greeted by Envy quickly, but Ed dodged every blow Envy shot at him. Envy was furious with that, but before he could do anything, General Mustang was on his tail. Ed noticed Al observing, and he motioned Al to help Mustang fight Envy. Al was about to protest when Sloth arrived. She began attacking Al—with Al simply dodging—but Ed wasn't going to just stand by and watch!

Ed jumped by Al and pushed him towards Envy and Mustang.

"Go!" He shouted, as he blocked Sloth's swipes with his auto-mail arm.

"But—"

"Just go!" Ed ordered.

Against his wants, Al turned and began fighting Envy with Roy.

With Al out of the way, Ed could freely demolish Sloth once more. He knew he had the guts, since he killed her once before; that was there to comfort.

Ed gasped under his breath. He forgot; the only remains he had were gone. They were used against her years ago and disappeared either when she died last or when Wrath was sacrificed for the gate. Shit. He wouldn't be able to kill her yet, but the least he could do was stall her until him or the others thought of another plan.

Sloth slashed at Edward several times, hitting him every time.

"_She's gotten faster…"_ Ed thought to himself. **(A/N: Lol the first time I typed that it said **_**"She's gotten fatter…"**_** *easily amused*)**

"Something on your mind…_son_?"

"Shut it, I'm not your son!" Ed shouted, taking a couple swings at her.

"Ooh, touchy. That's no way to treat your mother—neither a lady."

"You're not even real!"

"Oh really?" Sloth began. She turned her right arm into liquid and shoved it in Edward's mouth, blocking his throat from air.

Ed was choking, and Sloth transformed her other arm into liquid as well and wrapped it around his body.

"How real does this feel, my boy?" She asked, taunting him.

Ed shot her a glare and held his breath—of what he already had of course.

"You can't last forever, Edward." She sang.

"_This is gonna be disgusting…"_ Ed thought to himself as he began to swallow the liquid arm of Sloth's.

"What the hell?!" Sloth exclaimed.

"_I'd explain if I didn't have freaking waterish shit down my throat!"_ Ed shouted in his thoughts.

Sloth whipped her arm out of his mouth and when it transformed back to normal, her hand was missing.

"You…_ate_ my hand!?"

"I believe I drank it…And if you don't get your slimy arm off of me, I'll do more damage." Ed smirked.

Disgusted, she took back her other arm and transformed it to normal.

"That's what I thought."

Sloth transformed fully to water and slithered over to Envy.

"What is it, Sloth? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"We need to go." She said, showing him her arm.

"Damn, the fun was just beginning."

"You're not going anywhere!" Mustang shouted, snapping his flame at them.

"Until next time!" Envy shouted.

The flame exploded where they were.

For a moment, Edward thought it actually hurt them, until the smoke cleared.

"They're…gone?" Al asked.

"Yup."

"FullMetal?"

"What?"

"What the hell did you do?"

"I…kinda drank Sloth's hand." O.o

"You drank her hand!?" Al exclaimed.

"Well I had to breathe!"

"…Well we'll NEVER forget this moment, aye Alphonse?"

"No way, Sir." Al replied, sarcastically.

Ed glared at them. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to barf me out some homunculi."

"That's something you don't hear every day…"

The next morning, Edward wasn't feeling too good. Mustang had him stay in the dorms and have Alphonse watch over him. Today was their unexpected day off.

"Brother, are you alright? What exactly is wrong?" Alphonse asked, concerned.

"I feel like I'm gonna explode!" Ed shouted angrily.

"Did you eat too much again?" Al sweat dropped.

"NO!"

"Then what is it?"

"I dunno!"

Al grunted, his brother surely was sick, but what frustrated him was that he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Food poisoning?"

"I haven't eaten since yesterday morning! If it was poisoning, I would've noticed yesterday!"

"Well, I'll go get a doctor then." Al said, stopping his brother from going on a rant.

When Al left the room, Ed felt he'd lost the only help line he had.

He had no freaking idea what was wrong with him—he's never felt like this before, so he was confused.

His stomach ached, his head throbbed, his heart pounded off beat and he felt like something was going to shoot out of his flesh.

This was all new to him, at least out of nowhere like this.

Ed gripped his stomach with his left hand, hoping that would help him cope with the pain.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ha. I always knew it would come to this some day." Envy said, grinning.

"I had a feeling too…except for the fact he would actually swallow my hand."

"Oh suck it up, you baby. You'll survive without it."

"I know; I know…"

Al opened the door and peeked in on his brother. "Brother?"

Ed opened an eye and looked at the door from the bed. "Yeah?"

Al came inside the room with a doctor. "I've brought a doctor to check up on you."

The doctor bowed slightly and smiled. "I hear your stomach's bothering you."

"That some sorta joke?"

The doctor chuckled. "Not at all; now let's check up on what's wrong with you."

The doctor sat on a chair beside the bed and had Ed remove his shirt so he could feel on his stomach. **(A/N: Not that way you sick fan girls. xD)**

"Brother, this doctor's also an Alchemist." Al said, enthusiastic.

"Well that makes sense…it is a military job after all."

Once the doctor was finished with his inspection, he took some notes.

"So is there something wrong with Brother?" Al asked.

"Can't tell from the outside."

"Does that mean…!?!" Ed began.

The doctor nodded. "Surgery will be needed in order to check on your internal organs."

"Kill me now…" Ed mumbled to himself. He then slapped his stomach with his left hand. "Stupid stom—OWOWOWOW!" Ed gripped his stomach.

"You should be more careful, brother." Al sighed.

"Shut up." Ed snapped quickly.

And so Ed was sent to the emergency room so he could have his surgery done. It wasn't that advanced in technology but enough to make sure he stayed alive. Ed practically flipped off the surgery table when they told him he had to be awake during the procedure. He couldn't believe that; it was just…insane! But, taking the fact that they didn't have much technology…Ed was screwed.

The doctors were talking amongst themselves—allowing Al to visit Ed for a few minutes.

"I feel like I'm about to go up for an execution." Ed said.

"Brother, you'll be fine. They've done stuff like this before; all they're doing is opening your stomach to LOOK at your organs."

"But if they find something they'll tamper with it."

"Well that's their job! They're supposed to make you better, now let them." Al commanded.

"Fine…" Ed mumbled.

"I better go…looks like they're finishing up over there. Good luck."

Ed mumbled something under his breathe angrily as Alphonse left.

Before Al got out of the room, the doctors asked him to stay in the room, in case they needed him or information from him.

Al sat in a chair near the door, to stay out of their way. He watched as the doctors tied his brothers' limbs down on the table.

He gulped, nervous for Ed—and the fact that he had to WATCH.

A knock came to General Mustang's office door.

"Come in." He beckoned.

Lieutenant Hawkeye came inside his office and approached his desk.

"What is it, Hawkeye?"

"I have some news about the Elrics."

"Hm? I thought Ed was just resting in the dorms."

"Well he was…until Alphonse insisted he have a doctor see him; now Edward's in surgery."

"Surgery!? Is it really that serious?"

"They're not sure. The doctor couldn't find anything unusual from the outside, so I guess it's an organ defect."

"But out of nowhere like this? Something's not right."

"Nothing ever has been, sir."

One of the nurses was sitting with Alphonse, keeping him company until she was needed.

"So you two are real close, huh?"

Al nodded, smiling. "Yeah, always have been."

"Just wondering…but have you seen a model of the human organs before?"

"Once or twice, yeah. It was when my Alchemy teacher was in a small-town hospital because of organ troubles."

"They might have you take a look at your brother's organs, they often do that to show the families what's going on."

"Sounds…disturbing."

"I know, but at least we inform—unlike other hospitals."

"Yeah that's true."

"Nurse!" A doctor called out.

"Well, I'll be back in a bit." She said, hopping up and walking over to the station.

After a few moments of waiting, the nurse did come back. But she didn't sit down next to Al this time, she stood in front of him.

"Al, time to see your brother." She said.

Al stood up, and on the way to the station, he prepared himself to see his brother's organs. He didn't have a problem with them really, it was just the fact of seeing inside a person that creeped Al out.

The doctors made a spot for Al to see Ed's organs.

Al was speechless; his brothers' organs were slowly decaying.

"Wh—what's happening to him?" Al managed to ask.

"Something's eating away at him—something inhumane."

"But how!?"

"Alphonse.." Ed started.

"Brother?"

"It was _her_."

Al widened his eyes as the memory of Ed explaining how he defeated Sloth.

"No way….this can't be happening." Al said, to himself.


End file.
